It’s no secret that I’ve been enamored with Chef Deb Paquette since I had my very first meal at Zola 13 years ago. In fact, when I started this blog in May of 2009, she was one of the first chefs I wrote about.

Her food has a style all its own, and it’s certainly never lacking in flavor or creativity. A few years ago she did an interview with Food Arts magazine, and I pulled this quote from her: “Eating out is like going on a journey for the day, going on a mini vacation. Give them that piece of somewhere else they’re not going to get somewhere else.”

Peruvian Quiche at Etc.

Yes! That’s exactly what I want when I dine out and that’s why I love her and her restaurants so much. I want something completely different than I’m going to do at home myself. Flavor combinations or techniques that leave me intrigued and amazed.

Zola closed and my heart was broken. But then Etch opened downtown with Deb at the helm and all was well in my world again. Then, a few months ago, my world got even better when Etc opened in my neighborhood.

Now I can eat at Etch when I’m downtown and I can have happy hours, dinners and BRUNCH in my own hood. Hooray!

Etc’s Fried Potato Salad

This past weekend a friend and I went to Etc for my first brunch experience there, and while I had high expectations, I wasn’t expecting to eat something that completely changed my mind about a dish I’ve abhorred my entire life. Potato salad. Never been a fan. At all.

But the fried potato salad was screaming “try me!” to my friend, and since I like to keep an open mind and try things at least once, I happily ordered it. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve honestly never had a dish in any of Deb Paquette’s restaurants that I didn’t like. Gotta have faith.

Everything we had was delicious – the trio of quiches, the Shakshuka, the dessert.

Being more of a savory person, it’s sometimes easy for me to forgo the sweet finish after my meal, but not here. Etc/Etch’s Pastry Chef Megan Williams is one of the very best in town, so even though we were completely stuffed, my friend and I decided we must order the pear crumble, even if we could only handle one or two bites.

Ha. We quickly realized that no matter how painful, we were finishing every last morsel of this delicious creation!

My only regret about brunch at Etc. is that we didn’t have a third person dining with us, as I really wanted to try to the “Southern Belly”, a tea braised pork belly with polenta, smoked sorghum, belle meade bourbon butter, and apple brussels sprouts slaw.

Ah well, guess I’ll be making a return visit very soon for that. And some potato salad.

Even after dozens and dozens of new restaurants have opened in Nashville over the past couple of years, Etch is still hanging out on my list of favorites. As I type this, I just realized they will be celebrating their 5 year birthday this year! How is that even possible???

Truly, it seems like only yesterday that they were opening and I was eating roasted cauliflower with smoked pea puree for the first time.

I’m sure everybody and their mother, brother, sister, dad, and grandparents all know that this cauliflower dish is a MUST when dining at Etch, but I’m just going to tell you one more time. You know, in case there might be a distant, long lost cousin out there who hasn’t heard.

As I mentioned previously, I feel very fortunate that I now have very easy access to both Deb Paquette restaurants –Etc in my neighborhood, and Etch downtown, where I work at least a couple of days a week.

If you’re local and you don’t work downtown, you may not have had the opportunity to dine at Etch for lunch, but for those that have offices down there, or for any of you that might be traveling to Nashville for a visit and are staying downtown, then it definitely needs to be on your lunch list.

This week’s discovery when perusing the lunch menu: fried potato salad. YES. The fried potato salad I inhaled at Etc brunch shows up in the tenderloin dish on the Etch lunch menu! So for that reason alone you need to get yourself there pronto.

~Giveaway~

Contest Closed

Now that I’ve given you plenty of reasons to dine at both of these incredible establishments, here’s more. You may be able to do so for free!

That’s right. Etc and Etch have been kind enough to offer up two (2) $50 gift certificates for me to give away to two (2) of YOU!

To enter, all you have to do is this:

Mandatory

1. Leave a comment telling me what you’d like to order at Etc or Etch if you win. AND – let me know which restaurant gift certificate you’re most dying to have – Etc or Etch. (or if you’re cool with either one, you can tell me that!)

Contest ends on Monday, February 13th at noon CST. Once the winners are chosen, I’ll make contact via email and post the names here on the blog. If they don’t respond within 48 hours, I’ll be forced to choose others, so be sure to check your email!

I’d love to win the Etc prize since I haven’t tried it yet. I wouldn’t turn down Etch prize since I know it is great already.
I’d try brunch and order the bistro eggs and steak since it comes with the fried potato salad that you described and made my mouth water. Most importantly, I’d have my family get the Nashville Hot Chicken Benny and Butternut waffle so I could taste them all.

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Hi, I’m Beth!

I’m a food and drink obsessed girl living in beautiful Nashville, Tennessee. I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting things in the culinary world, so I created this blog to share all of my adventures, discoveries, inspirations, and recipes. Follow along and I bet you'll smile too!